Williams even managed to crack herself up with a couple of jokes during her news conference at Wimbledon as the defending women’s champion. The tournament begins Monday.

More than half the questions Sunday were about what Williams was quoted as saying — and Maria Sharapova’s forceful verbal swipe in reaction.

“It definitely hasn’t been easy,” Williams said of the stir created by a Rolling Stone magazine profile piece. “And I feel like I really wanted to say: I apologize for everything that was said in that article.”

Williams said she apologized to Sharapova at a pretournament party Thursday.

But that interaction didn’t end the matter, because Sharapova said Saturday: “Maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids.”

Williams said she was told of Sharapova’s comments, but “I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it.”

CenturyLink, the telecommunications company that ended its sponsorship agreement with Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall because of his protests during the national anthem last year, said it will not terminate its agreement with current client Emmanuel Sanders.